Prime Minister Mark Carney would not say when asked whether China’s treatment of the Uyghurs amounted to genocide – as the House of Commons declared several years ago – but acknowledged the Asian country was “rightly called out” for its conduct toward this minority in the past.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday at an unrelated news conference in Quebec, Mr. Carney was asked whether he agreed with the [Canada’s] 2021 House of Commons motion on genocide.
He declined to say but noted “there are fundamental issues in terms of China’s treatment of the Uyghurs in the past, and they’ve been rightly called out.”
Mr. Carney is still navigating the fallout from comments from new Liberal MP Michael Ma who last week cast doubt on reports of forced labour in China. Mr. Ma, who defected from the opposition Conservatives in December, has since apologized for his statements.
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Mr. Ma sparked a backlash last Thursday after he challenged the existence of forced labour in China during a meeting of the Commons industry committee, which is examining Mr. Carney’s deal to allow 49,000 Chinese-made electric vehicles into Canada at a low tariff rate.
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Last week, Margaret McCuaig-Johnston, a senior fellow at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa, had told the Commons industry committee Thursday that electric vehicles (EV) are being built with Chinese aluminum products made by slave labourers in Xinjiang. A 2024 Human Rights Watch report also said major automakers including Tesla, BYD, GM, Toyota and Volkswagen are drawing aluminum from supply chains linked to Uyghur forced labour in Xinjiang.
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Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities in Xinjiang, a region some call East Turkestan, have faced years of repression, forced internment and coerced labour under Beijing, according to rights groups. A 2022 report from the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said China has committed “serious human rights violations” there that may amount to “crimes against humanity.”
you’re gonna need to be specific here: what is not true about my comment?
Where to begin? Carney. Carney Carney carney. Is partial truth. Whole truth is Canada has has a hard hate-on for Iran since the CIA blowback that led to revolution. For no real reason than Anglo-American oil interests wanted a good hate for Iran for fucking up their plans. Was never really our business, nor in our interests. All governments since, both conservative and liberal have continued this hostile stance toward them. Why single out Carney? He is in a long list here, and our position under Carney didn’t change one bit.
Canada can and has made arguments about Iran’s opressive government, hostile treatment of its peoples, human rights violations and that too is a partial truth. We’re happy to look the other way elsewhere. Why is Saudi Arabia and ally and gets a pass when Iran gets a hate? If we really cared about human rights and democracy, SA and many others wouldn’t get such an easy diplomatic pass. SA lets in Anglo American oil companies and buys arms. Iran doesn’t. We don’t say this because the Canadian public prefers the half truths and the plausable sounding lies.
“Cheering”: He did speak of Canada support for US/ Israeli actions against the regime, not the war on its people, or the economic disruptions caused by US/Israeli shitting the bed. Another half truth. He calibrated that his support is " not a blank cheque" and does not support the war and won’t participate directly. That’s not cheering.
Yeah why would I single out Carney, he’s only the current prime minister at a time when the genocidal states of US and Israel launched attacks against a sovereign nation that are so ill-advised, I’ve heard commentators talking about how this is akin to the UK’s Suez Canal moment that cemented that empire’s decline.
It’s funny how Carney is always described as being so brilliant and worldly until he once again steps in it. Then it’s never his fault; it’s prior governments’ policy; he’s new to the job so give him a chance; he’s playing some secret genius chess game so let him cook, etc.
Anyway, he cheered initially, that is a fact. He only re-calibrated his support after it became clear what a disaster this was becoming, and how horrified the reaction from Canadians was. His previous statements about things like a “zionist Palestine” show just how completely out to lunch on these issues he is. Or he understands what he’s talking about, in which case he’s a monster.
Disagree, but only in a matter of degree. I’m not saying carney isn’t blameworthy. I’m saying its the same blame as Canadian institutional foreign policy since the revolution.